Latest updates: Ex-teacher Thomas Bernagozzi sentenced to up to 50 years in prison

Lawyers spar after sentencing

Assistant District Attorney Dana Castaldo has asked Judge Karen Wilutis to make a record.

The prosecutor is accusing defense attorney Steven Politi of telling one of the victim's father to "wait right here for me, you [expletive.]"

Politi said he's been glared at throughout the process by victims and has not received support from the judge and court personnel to assure his safety.

Castaldo said Politi has lacked decorum in the case

"Nobody is threatening me. Period," Politi said. "Not that old man."

He denies saying what Castaldo has accused him of.

The record is now closed. Court officers are escorting Politi away. Everyone else still in the courtroom has been asked to stay.

Maximum sentence on top 2 charges

The sentence on the possession charges will run concurrent to the top charges, which will run consecutive, the judge says.

This is the maximum sentence on the top two charges.

Politi said Bernagozzi does not wish to sign orders of protection the judge issued for three of his victims.

Politi is now reading his client his right to appeal, as the proceeding winds down. "We'll be doing that," the defense attorney declares.

The sentencing is over.

'Only appropriate sentence' says the judge

Judge Karen Wilutis is underscoring Bernagozzi's lack of remorse and how that should impact his sentence.

"The only appropriate sentence for you is as follows," adding 25 years for course of sexual conduct, 8 1/3 to 25 years for sodomy, consecutive, 1 1/3 to 4 years for the possession of a sexual performance of a child charges.

"This is a total of 33 1/3 years and up to 50 years as a maximum," Wilutis said.

Overwhelming evidence of guilt, judge says

The judge is first outlining the purposes of a sentence, including deterrence and rehabilitation.

Bernagozzi, among the oldest defendants in Suffolk, is seated as the judge speaks.

Ordinarily a defendant stands alongside their attorney but he was given a chair.

Wilutis is noting Bernagozzi's lack of remorse, saying he denied all the allegations, and accused the prosecutors and witnesses of lying when he met with probation for his presentencing investigation.

"The evidence of your guilt was overwhelming," the judge tells him.

She calls him Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and says his abuse is horrendous and heinous.

"The sentence I will be imposing will be lengthy indeed," Wilutis warns.

She is now reading legal case law supporting a maximum sentence.

'He spoke for me' Bernagozzi says

Politi said his client completely maintains his innocent. "He has never hurt anyone in his whole life."

"He spoke for me," Bernagozzi said when Wilutis asked if he wished to add anything.

Wilutis is now issuing her sentence.

More than 10 years a 'death sentence'

Judge Karen Wilutis, at the urging of the prosecutor, Dana Castaldo, has asked Politi to stick to the issue of sentencing and not relitigate the case.

She said she denied his motion to vacate Bernagozzi's conviction in a written order handed out earlier today.

"What's an appropriate sentence for a defendant who is 77 years old and has never been convicted of a crime for allegations, some as much as 40 years old?" Politi asked.

"Anything over 5 or 10 years is a death sentence."

Politi is accusing Castaldo of prosecutorial misconduct. "Their witnesses were all over the map, including the loudmouth who just yelled."

Bernagozzi will not speak.

Defense lawyer: 'There was no evidence'

Castaldo spoke about the impacts the abuse has caused generations of boys in the district. Many struggle with addiction and have had their own brushes with the criminal justice system. Some were pushed to suicide, she said.

But Bernagozzi's lawyer, Steve Politi, said "There was no evidence" of abuse against anyone outside of the indictment introduced in court.

He accuses Castaldo of making up a "fantastic lie" that Bernagozzi moved a child's shorts to show his genitals to secure the conviction.

Politi asked where the mother who gave a victim impact statement was during the trial. Her husband shouts an obscenity, and the judge asks him to refrain from speaking.

Politi said he'll see the dad outside. 

"In order to believe [the allegations] you have to suspend your disbelief as to how the world works," Politi said.

'No sentence long enough' says prosecutor

Castaldo said no sentence is long enough, and is asking for a consecutive, maximum sentence of up to 54 years.

Defense lawyer Steven Politi is objecting to Castaldo's references to abuse that was not included in the criminal case. Castaldo said case law allows the judge to consider the other abuse at sentencing.

The prosecutor calls him one of Suffolk's "most heinous serial predators."

"This defendant has taken no responsibility for his conduct."

Castaldo calls Bernagozzi's claims that the reported abuse was a "money grab" offensive.

'Unthinkable acts' says prosecutor

Castaldo, the lead prosecutor on the case, said the evidence proved Bernagozzi committed "unthinkable acts" against two young boys and others, including a photographed child.

"Those photos were kept in this defendant's home for decades" among thousands of images of other students, often shirtless.

He [kept the photos] for his own devious sexual interest," Castaldo said. "There were no photos of this defendant with people his own age."

Castaldo said the memory of the abuse has "sadly never faded" for the victims. "This defendant stole the innocence of young boys who should have been safe in his company."

'A danger to society'

"Thomas Bernagozzi is a danger to society. He cannot be rehabilitated. I am grateful to the jury that convicted him. I believe he should be sentenced to the maximum amount allowed under the law," the mother said.

The victim, now in his 30s, said Bernagozzi's "day of reckoning is here." "Your sole legacy is now the truth of what you are. A pedophile, an abuser and a monster."

'Joy taken out of his soul'

"He was the kind of kid that, he was just very bright. ... His teachers loved him. He had lots of friends," the mother said.

The boy's father was in the Coast Guard and was stationed out of town when he met Bernagozzi. "I'm here today just to say now that we didn't recognize the abuse at the time it was happening ... the joy was taken out of his soul. Looking back now, I can see that."

The mother said she feels guilt for not recognizing it and that her son has suffered long-term effects of the abuse. She said the healing process is ongoing.

Her son will be next to speak.

Mother of victim gives statement

Bernagozzi has entered the courtroom, wearing a navy blazer over a white shirt, and has joined defense attorney Steven Politi before the judge.

Assistant District Attorney Dana Castaldo is introducing the first victim to give a victim impact statement.

She is the mother of one of the men whose abuse was charged in the indictment.

Packed courtroom

Among those in the audience is Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, which is not unusual for a high-profile sentencing.

Also in the courtroom are some of the men who filed civil claims against the district, parents of some of those men and past employees of the district.

Bernagozzi was hired by Bay Shore in 1970 and the earliest abuse alleged in the civil cases began soon after, with allegations spanning more than 50 years. The criminal case covered abuse beginning as early as 1989, continuing for more than a decade until his retirement in 2000.

Courtroom opens for sentencing

The courtroom has opened and is beginning to fill up.

Probe started with lawsuits

Suffolk police and prosecutors opened an investigation into Bernagozzi after 45 former district students filed Child Victims Act claims against the school district, alleging that administrators were neglectful in allowing the teacher to remain in the classroom despite reports of the abuse.

He was arrested in December 2023 when prosecutors determined at least two of the abuse claims fit within the current statute of limitations and secured an indictment against the teacher. The possession charges were added after police found lewd images of a student inside the teacher’s home while executing a search warrant on the day of his arrest.

Politi, of Central Islip, defended the images at trial as clean fun and sought to portray the witnesses as untrustworthy and motivated by the prospect of money damages. Bay Shore has paid at least $75 million in legal settlements resulting from the Child Victims Act claims.

Victim Impact statements

The sentencing of the 77-year-old Babylon resident will continue with victim impact statements, followed by statements and a sentencing recommendation by prosecutors.

The court will then hear from defense attorney Steven Politi, who will seek a lenient sentence, before Bernagozzi is given the opportunity to make his own statement.

Wilutis will then likely make brief remarks before issuing her sentence.

Bernagozzi is facing a a maximum sentence of 54 years — 25 years each on the abuse charges and 4 years on the child pornography charges. The sentence on each charge can run consecutively since they did not arise from a single act or incident. The judge, however, does have discretion to issue fewer years, and the sentence on each charge can run concurrently, meaning at the same time for fewer total years than if they were stacked.

Prosecutors alleged at trial that Bernagozzi took advantage of the "blind trust" of parents when he abused students for his sexual gratification. A popular teacher in the district's elementary schools from 1970 to 2000, Bernagozzi created extracurricular programs to form "twisted and manipulative" relationships with young boys, Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney MacDonald Drane told the jury during opening arguments.

The sports and theater programs placed the students alone with the teacher, who Drane said created a "ruse" to change their clothes and apply talcum powder to their bodies, which he touched with his hands and mouth to "fulfill his sexual desires."

Sentencing set to begin

The sentencing of former Bay Shore elementary school teacher Thomas Bernagozzi is set to begin at 2:15 p.m.

The retired third grade teacher, who taught in the district for three decades, was convicted Feb. 13 of sodomy, sexual conduct against a child and three counts of possession of a sexual performance by a child for allegations involving three different district students.

Acting State Supreme Court Justice Karen Wilutis will likely begin the proceeding by issuing a decision on a post-trial motion filed by the defense to vacate his conviction. While such motions are common following a trial, convictions are rarely overturned by a trial judge.

Thomas Bernagozzi to be sentenced today

Thomas Bernagozzi, a former educator convicted of sexually abusing multiple students in a 30-year career teaching children in Bay Shore elementary schools, will be sentenced to prison Wednesday.

Bernagozzi, 77, faces up to 54 years in state prison when he is sentenced by acting state Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis at 2:15 p.m. in Riverhead.

Read more here.

See previous coverage of the Bernagozzi case

Read our previous coverage of the Bernagozzi case here.